Cannon

BAKER CITY — Jonathan Cannon of North Carolina is the Baker City Council’s choice to replace the retiring Fred Warner Jr. as city manager.

The city announced the hiring in a press release Wednesday, Nov. 25. Cannon moves into the position Jan. 1.

But Mayor Loran Joseph calling this a “hire” might have been a slightly premature term. Technically, Cannon won’t have the job until the city council ratifies a contract with him.

Joseph said councilors will consider the contract at their next meeting, set for Dec. 8.

Joseph said on Friday, Nov. 27, he was “impressed with Mr. Cannon’s work history. It showed that he is willing to stay busy and build trust with employers while working his way up. He has rewarded everyone that took a chance on him with an impeccable work ethic and great results.”

Cannon, who earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from West Virginia University with a minor in urban planning, has served as city manager of Saluda, North Carolina, a city of about 700, since August 2015. His duties also include working as the city’s zoning administrator, public works director, deputy finance officer and human resources director.

From May 2014 to August 2015 he was the Saluda zoning administrator and prior to that he was the owner of Cannon Works LLC, a gutter construction company, beginning in August 2011.

Although the city council will decide whether to ratify a contract with Cannon, five of those councilors have terms that end Dec. 31, before Cannon would start work as city manager.

Five people who were elected Nov. 3 will be sworn in at the council’s first 2021 meeting — Shane Alderson, Kerry McQuisten, Joanna Dixon, Johnny Waggoner Sr. and Heather Sells.

Four of those five councilors-elect who talked with the Herald earlier this month (Sells could not be reached for a comment) said after meeting the three finalists who visited Baker City in early November, they preferred Cannon.

The next council, with five of seven members being new, will work directly with Cannon.

Under the council-manager form of government the city uses, the manager oversees the daily operations of the city and is responsible for hiring and firing city employees.

The city council, meanwhile, passes ordinances and sets policies for the manager to carry out. The council also has the sole authority to hire and fire the city manager.